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Notes, quotes from John Beilein on Big Ten teleconference

John Beilein joined the rest of the Big Ten coaches on the weekly teleconference on Monday. Michigan’s coach talked about his team’s win over Illinois, as well as Glenn Robinson III’s latest award. Beilein also provided a brief update on Jordan Morgan, who will receive X-rays today. Read the full transcript below.

Opening statement: “We really had a good win yesterday at Illinois. Illinois has a great tradition there and a very good basketball team. We really felt good about getting away from there with a win. As everyone knows, to win on the road is very difficult, and for our team to do this is a very positive step in the right direction.”

On Jordan Morgan’s health: “If he’s able to go, we’ll need every man on deck for Northwestern, without question. He was going to have X-rays this morning. We got back very late last night. That’s a big downside of the new Sunday night game — we got back at midnight and we didn’t have time to X-ray then but he’s going to get X-rays this morning.”

Keys to winning on the road: “One of the big things is to limit your turnovers. I think turnovers are a huge momentum-builder for a home team. I don’t have any expertise on this, it’s just a hunch — if you look at the teams that win a lot on the road, they usually have very low turnover numbers in those wins. Because there’s nothing like a run-out steal on the fast break and a dunk to change momentum of a game on the road. We had a couple of them yesterday, but you limit them, and I think we have in those away games. It gives you a chance to win.”

On Glenn Robinson III being named Big Ten Freshman of the Week: “Glenn, every day in practice and every game, he does something new that we probably have not seen yet. It’s good to have, obviously. We’re trying to find ways to even have him a bigger a part of things that we do. But right now, his defense is so good. His instincts for the ball on offensive rebounds, on back-door cutting is very, very good. Now, he’s really settled in with a very consistent outside game, and dribble game. Every day, we just see this growth in his game because he’s such a hard worker and he’s very focused in the game, with an extremely high basketball IQ.”

Is there a concerted effort to get Nik Stauskas to the hoop early in the game? “We’re always trying to put people in situations where they can be aggressive and take the ball to the hoop. There’s a lot of different ways of getting the ball inside. One way is throwing it to the big guy. Another way is back-cutting. But driving the ball, today, is one of the best ways. We’re trying to find avenues for him all the way. Him, Tim (Hardaway Jr.) and Trey (Burke), particularly on the outside, and now Glenn as well. Any time we can open gaps for them to let them drive, two things are happening: either they’re scoring, or we’re getting the rebound because the weak-side help or the strong-side help is not there to rebound.”

More important for Stauskas, because of his shooting? “That’s why we think he has such a high ceiling. There are a lot of shooters who can’t do what Nik can do. So, we want to put him in those situations whenever we can. With the three guys I already named, and add Caris (LeVert) and Spike (Albrecht), really, that is a comfort level of taking the ball to the basket strong. Tim had a couple tremendous ones yesterday, as did Trey Burke. That really helps us. But you can’t have five guys taking it strong to the basket at one time — only one guy has the ball. If we can put Nik in that situation, we will.”